Parents sue school district for not protecting girl from groping

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KITTANNING (AP) — The parents of a western Pennsylvania student claim in a federal civil rights that the failed to protect her from a former girls’ tennis coach convicted of groping her during practice when she was 15 years old.

The Tribune-Review reports the parents and daughter are only identified by initials in the lawsuit filed Wednesday. They are suing the Armstrong County School District and 64-year-old Dennis Lee Zellefrow, the Kittanning High School coach who pleaded guilty in September 2011 to corruption of minors and indecent assault.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge William Shaffer sentenced Zellefrow in October 2011 to up to three months in jail and nearly five years of probation, according to court records.

Zellefrow and a spokesman for the district couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.